Monday, 9 April 2012

Overloaded and We're Running (1980)

"Overloaded and We're Running" appeared in 1980 as the first in an annual series of compilations that aimed to round up some of the music that had been going on in the Bangor/Bethesda/Anglesey area over the preceding year.

At the time, popular weekly live music nights were held at Plas Coch, a slightly down at heels stately home in Llanedwen, Anglesey, and the groups on this compilation drew heavily from the regulars who played there. Indeed, the launch night for the compilation took place at that venue in June 1980.

1 Fay Ray & the Rubbermen - Zodiac Sign (Lovering)The first appearance of the group who were to soon shorten their name and record an album for Warner Brothers as Fay Ray. This song however, did not appear on their album.line up: Sheila Macartney - vocals, John Lovering - guitar, Jeff Taylor - sax, accordion, Owen Hughes - drums, Tony Travis - bass2 Maggs - Echoes(Thomas/Jones)Maggs formed out of legendary Welsh language group Brân when their lead singer John Gwyn left to pursue a career in television.line up: Len Jones - guitar, Louis Thomas - bass, vocals, Bryan Griffiths - drums3 Inverted Commas - The Coat I Wear (Wilce/Stroud)Like Fay Ray, this group had recently emerged from the split of popular Bangor group Hot Water. Similarly, another quick name change saw the Inverted Commas morph into The Pumps by the time the compilation was released. They continued playing under that name until 1982.line-up: Paul Stroud - bass, vocals, Annie Williams - organ, John Wilce - guitar, Bryan Griffiths - drums4 Brenda & the Hot Dicks - Only the Devil (Lovering)Yet another Hot Water offshoot - not so much a real group as singer Brenda Prescott backed by the members of Fay Ray. She was signed to Active Records and has been heard in many groups around the area ever since, including Over There and Brenda & the Box it Came in.5 Some Noise - In Transit (Saunders)The only studio recording of Scott Saunders' post-Inadequates post-punk trio. Two live recordings can be found elsewhere on this site.line-up: Scott Saunders - guitar, vocals, Martin Parry - bass, Mark Creathorn - drums6 Dav & the Green Girls - Eat(Devalle/Saunders)A pre-Ghostriders appearance from Dav Devalle, who can also be heard in The Verbs, his duo with Scott Saunders, later on the compilation. Dav Devalle - vocals, guitar, Jeff Hill - bass, guitar, backing vox, Dave Wood - backing vox.7 Dick Dick & the Dicks - No. 9 in Sri Lanka (live in Plas Coch) (d'Aboville)One of the oldest groups here, Dick Dick & the Dicks had been playing no nonsense rock 'n' roll / r'n'b around the area for three or four years, but by this time had incorporated Brenda Prescott into the line up, resulting in an inevitable change of sound.line-up: Brenda Prescott - vocals, Owen Hughes - drums, Tony Travis - bass, Roy Smith - percussion, Marc d'Aboville - guitar8 The Modernaires - The Urge(Modernaires)9 The Modernaires - A Disco Vamp(Modernaires)Hailing from Holyhead, The Modernaires played an urgent post-punk style reminiscent of a more jazzy Pere Ubu. They soon relocated to Chester, releasing a couple of singles and an LP before turning to the Welsh language and becoming Brodyr Y Ffin. Drummer Dave Baynton-Power also went on to play for James.line-up: Phil Bradley - guitar, Hugh Hughes - bass, Brian Roberts - vocals, Dave Baynton-Power - drums10 Mars Bars - Fundamental Vision(Hill)Not really a 'real' group as such, Mars Bars was a one off recording put together for this compilation by Paul Hill, using various ex-members of Hot Water.line-up: Paul Hill, Brenda Prescott, Owen Hughes, John Lovering, Jeff Taylor, Tim Macartney, Bob Stenegna11 Menai Straits - Rice Pudding(Trad)Menai Straits were an 8 piece jazz based outfit made up of:Roy Smith - drums, Keith Woods - keyboards, Andy Baron - tenor, Peter McDonald - keyboards, Ondré Nowakowski - alto, Nick Parker - flute, Mick Pearson - bass, Alan Williams - guitar12 The Verbs - Nervous(Devalle/Saunders)The Verbs were a duo of Dav Devalle and Scott Saunders, although on occasions they would augment the line-up with various other musicians for live performances. Their first gig was at Bangor Students Union Jazz Room on April 20th 1979, where they supported the final appearance by Scott's previous group, The Inadequates.13 Distant Cousins - Local/International(Distant Cousins)Another short lived group featuring ex-Inadequates rhythm section Mark Thomas and Alan Wilkinson, together with guitarist Martin Wilson and Fay Ray/Hot Water singer Sheila Macartney. This is possibly the only recorded evidence of them.14 9½ - Overloaded & You're Running(Hill/Walker)9½ was put together by singer songwriter Chris Walker and displayed the influence of contemporary post punk groups like Joy Division, mixed in with more traditional song based rock. The group also featured the late legendary Les Morrison and future Ghostrider Rob Parry.line-up: Chris Walker - vocals, Rob Parry - guitar, Alan Williams - guitar, Les Morrison - bass, 'Ley' - drums

A 'Family Tree' of the bands was included with the compilation, drawn in the style of Pete Frame by Fay Ray bass player Tony Travis:

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We hope to unearth lost, forgotten or obscure music from the north Wales music scene of the past few decades and make it available again, or in many cases, for the first time.

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